Speech #1090131866

Mr. President. there is no doubt that trying to fix our broken immigration system is a complex issue. Frankly. part of what we have been trying to do is to find solutions that thread the needle and shrink the gap between the approach of the House of Representatives. which is primarily an enforcementonly bill. and comprehensive immigration reform that I believe is supported by most of us in the Senate. including myself. I differ with the sponsors of the bill in the Senate. and I intend to offer amendments that will. I believe. improve it. while retaining its comprehensive nature. I believe it is simply surreal to suggest that what the amendment of the Senator from Georgia does somehow retreats to the House position and is an enforcementonly approach. Indeed. I think the Senator from Georgia has struck upon an ingenious way to thread the needle by saying. yes. we believe that border security is important. yes. we believe that we ought to produce the computer systems. hire and train the people. create the databases which will actually make this reform work. rather than put the cart before the horse and say. with the stroke of a pen. that 12 million people who are living out of legal status are suddenly legal. and. yes. we are going to have 325.000 new people each year come into the country. regardless of whether our economy is in a boom or a bust and possibly compete with Americans for those jobs. What the Senator from Georgia has done is say lets put the horse in front of the cart. not the cart in front of the horse. Lets do first things first. Lets make sure this will actually work. Last night the President talked about sending 6.000 National Guard troops to help the Border Patrol secure the border. recognizing that it takes time to train Border Patrol agents. We now train them at the rate of 1.500 a year. and we cant all of a sudden secure the border because we cant all of a sudden train enough Border Patrol agents. We cant all of a sudden. with the wave of a magic wand. build the infrastructure that is necessary. We cant. with the wave of a magic wand. issue the request for proposals to actually let the contracts that will allow the construction of the computer systems and the databases that will actually make this work.